Last Call BBS is a collection of minigames and toys bundled together as if they were pieces of software you would download on an old school BBS, using your trusty Sawayama computer, you get online and try out one of the seven activities available to you while reading about the characters who developped or made these products available to you in-universe. It’s a really well crafted package that doesn’t overstay its welcome and while there were some of the minigames that I just couldn’t understand even by reading the instructions multiple times, I had a good moment with most of them, completing them in their entirety.
The framing device of the game - the BBS downloads - was pretty neat, but I was afraid it would become a bit stiffling, after all you have to download the games and there was a cooldown between each of them (you’ve hit your quota!), ultimately it wasn’t an issue because during these periods, I would just play the games I’ve already had. I also enjoyed reading about this fake BBS and playing around in the fake computer - it’s always something I love in games.
The first minigame I tried was Dungeons & Diagrams, a puzzle game that kinda mixes Picross with some other puzzle twists; You have to place walls on a grid and respect a few rules, such as monsters always being at the end of a corridor and chests being in 3x3 rooms. I went through the whole thing and it was really fun! Sometimes there was some trial and error involved and that didn’t feel great, but otherwise this was a well designed puzzler. Kabufuda Solitaire was another cool minigame where instead of matching suits and numbers you would match cards with the same design in piles of four until all the cards are gone.
I couldn’t get into Chipwizard Professional, 20th Century Food Court and Juicebox Arcade, that was a pretty big shame because it’s like, three games out of seven. In all cases, either the instructions were too vague, or I thought I had understood exactly what the thing was about but then couldn’t get past the introductory puzzle or tutorial. It’s a bit of a shame because in all cases they seemed like neat experiences; a “computer chip” building puzzler, an automation puzzler and some kind of Tetris Attack-alike arcade game, but I just couldn’t.
X’BPGH: The Forbidden Path was an extremely weird game where you built fleshy constructs by ‘programming’ a seed to duplicate, change and grow until it matches what your objective was. The rules could’ve been explained a bit better, but I managed to go through it okay. Finally, there was Steed Force Hobby Studio, more of a toy than a full on videogame, you would build robot figurines and paint them using satisfying tools and by snapping parts together. More of an arts and crafts thing, but very fun to mess around with.
Last Call BBS is pretty cool. I love Zachtronics-style puzzle games and there’s something for everyone in here if you enjoy the occasional puzzler here and there. Check it out!
